Samajwadi Secular Morcha founder Shivpal Singh Yadav’s son Aditya Yadav is set to challenge Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in the 2019 parliamentary election by contesting against his elder cousin from Kannauj constituency.
Akhilesh has already announced his intention to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Kannauj, the seat presently held by his wife Dimple Yadav.
Akhilesh had made his debut in politics from Kannauj seat in 1999 and had again won the seat in 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections.
Aditya, who is chairman of Pradesh Co-operative Federation (PCF), has started preparations for his electoral debut.
Sources close to Aditya said like his father Shivpal Yadav, he too was leaving no stone unturned to garner support for the newly-formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha.
Popularly known as ‘Ankur bhaiya’ among youngsters, Aditya is spending most of his time with the youths, urging them to join his party and fight against social injustice and communalism. He was earlier involved in the groundwork for SSM and has now come to the forefront.
Earlier on Thursday, Aditya said that the SSM could not be defeated in Kannauj. His claim that the SSM will win the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat is being seen as a direct challenge to Akhilesh.
“Samajwadi Secular Morcha will field a strong candidate in Kannauj and we will win even if Akhilesh contests from there. Barring Mulayam Singh Yadav’s seat, we will field candidates on all seats,” said Aditya, who is also director of IFFCO (Indian Farmer’s Fertiliser Cooperative).
Targeting Samajwadi Party, Aditya said, “The ‘samajwad’ (socialism) of Samajwadi Party is slowly dying. We do not make our strategies sitting in air-conditioned rooms like them. We believe in working at the grassroots among the people.”
Aditya also attacked the Yogi Adityanath government, saying that law and order was in a shambles in the state.